I Wonder About This??

I went to our Goodwill store yesterday and seen one of these hand crank light, radio, television things. Well, I already have a few radios and lights that are hand powered, but I was wondering about this with the TV. I got home and was wondering if I should of bought it, but then I was also wondering if , after June 12th, if the TV would be of any use anyway. It would not be digital. So, it would not even work would it???



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Great Foods For Backpack & Camping

Backpacking Simple Food Ideas

Here are some very simple ideas for dehydrated and light-weight
foods.

1) Any packaged dinner mix from the grocery and packed in ziploc
baggies ie, Macaroni & Cheese, Rice-a-Roni, Broccoli and Cheese, etc
There are tons of these things available today. If they call for milk,
then the boys can carry powdered milk in baggies. Margarine will
travel well, and since they will be working hard, the extra fat might be
desirable.

2) Instant oatmeal and instant grits and bagels are great for breakfast.
Again, powdered milk can be used with these. Get some of the new
Fantastic Foods hot cereal mixes--they are warm and filling.
3) Dehydrated vegetables and full meals can be found in camping
stores. Add dried peas to a box of mac & cheese, for instance

4) Try Ramen noodle soups, or any of those "soup in a cup"s (that can
be packaged in baggies so they take up less room).

5) Dehydrated bean flakes that mix up almost instantly with water are
available in HFS. Mix these with some cooked minute rice and put in a
tortilla. Yum! Flavor them with onion, garlic, cumin powders.

6) Cheese backpacks well. Again, the fat may not be so bad if they are
hiking all day. And if it's cold, then the fat is almost necessary to
help them stay warm. (You need a lot more calories when it's cold.)
Add a hunk to any soup, pasta, rice, or dehydrated veggies you're
cooking.

7) Pasta, pasta, pasta. Top it with sauces made from the dry package
mixes. A lot of these are tasty. High in sodium and preservatives
sometimes, but for a couple of meals they won't hurt you.

8) Instant mashed potatoes that can be mixed with the powdered milk
or water only. Make up an instant gravy to go top.

9) Dried fruit can be cooked in some water and put on top of a piece of
angel food cake for dessert. (Hey, the cake might get crushed a little,
but it is lightweight!) Add some cinnamon and Tang (in lieu of orange
juice)and you approximate a Cooking Light recipe.

10) The dry veggie burger mixes would make a great meal. Most of
them make up with water only and many are quite tasty.

11) Bulgar and couscous cook up in only a few minutes with boiling
water.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Food Storage Planning

I think that this website has a great plan. All though I agree with what they say about it taking maybe $10.00 instead of $5.00 to do this now. I printed the page out and have it on my fridge now and plan on using the ideas on it. I also have been saving change and selling stuff on ebay with the intent of using ANY money from that will go into purchasing more for our stockpile.

Planning makes getting prepared much easier.


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Stock Up On Stuff That You Do Not Even Use Yourself!

This can come in handy in case times get REALLY bad and you can use the stockpile of stuff that you do not even use to trade or barter with. Like , for example, I got a case of 12 packages of pipe tobacco for free and I have it in the freezer to keep it fresh and then if the time comes I have it to use. I also have been stocking up on other things , like diapers (cloth & disposable), powdered formula, and more.
You never know when someone might have something that YOU need and since you have something that they need , you can trade!!!!

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Get A Rain Barrel

This is such a great idea, that i think that every single home should be required to have one. I love having a rain barrel. It saves me a ton on watering my garden, flowers, etc. Also it is just good to have one hand.
This whole next week it is going to be raining here. So I am going to set up another rain barrel up at another corner of my house.

Why should I use a rain barrel?
Lawn and garden water makes up approximately 40% of total household water use in the summer. A rain barrel can save you money in the summer by lowering your water bill by reducing irrigation water usage.
Collected rainwater is better for plants because it isn't chlorinated like your tap water is.
Reduce water pollution by reducing stormwater runoff which can contain pollutants.
Storing rainwater for lawn and garden use helps recharge the groundwater which feeds local rivers.

There are some great videos on YouTube about making rain barrels and tons of info on Google.




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Tip For The day!

Save all of your empty milk jugs !!
One great use for them is to get HOT WATER: In the summer, fill a few and let them heat up outside in the sun. You can use the water to hand-wash dishes and wash your hands.

Dry Milk Continued

Since I made that post yesterday, I have been really interested in if there are any recipes out there that are made just for using dry milk. So I went to Google and did some searching. Here are some great links that I found for using dry milk:

Using Powdered Milk In Cooking

Recipes

Storing Dry Milk

Using Dry Milk

Saving Money Using Powdered Milk

Very Best Baking Recipes From Carnation

Potato bread recipe using instant potatoes and dry milk!

Make Dry Milk Taste Like Fresh Milk

Dry Milk

Recipes Using Dry Milk

The Fab Four
How to survive on wheat,
dry milk, honey and salt

I am so sorry for all of the links. There is just a ton of info online about using dry milk. I could list even more. I just wanted to share all of them.


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Dry Milk

I am finding in the last few weeks , that if I did not have any dry milk I would not be able to cook a lot of things. Milk has gotten so expensive that I just have been able to buy a half gallon of it and using it only for cereal. I then make a jug of dry milk to use for cooking and baking. It has been a life saver. It has saved us a lot of money and it is very good for you. My little one is almost 3 and he actually loves to drink dry milk more then whole milk.
It does not make a difference in cooking. Everything I use it is cooks and bakes just like if I used whole milk.

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Trying To Survive

Since January , my family has been going through a very tight and trying time. My husband is still laid-off. I have been sewing some cloth towels and diapers. Trying to sell what I can to make extra money. Unemployment is not a lot of money. But , we are actually making it. All of our bills are paid and nothing is behind. This has been such a learning experience and we have found out some things that we need to do and some things that we have actually done right.

More postings later about what we have been doing!! I have been getting my veggies all ready to plant.

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